T&T: Teak decks, was teak sealers

[bob england]

Fresh water is not the problem, water from condensate is. Rain, morning dew, 
Air conditioners, metal window frames, that kind of stuff. Lake water no 
more promotes rot than sea water, utility sourced water usually has chlorine 
added. But real saltwater soaked wood doesn't rot. A wooden boat in sea 
water doesn't rot where the wood has contact with sea water. They can rot 
from the waterline up, and usually do, and it normally starts at the 
windows. Saltwater doesn't preserve teak decks (which invariably leak), it 
preserves the wood that the teak is screwed to by allowing saltwater into 
the tiniest of leaks, thereby both swelling the underlaying structure and 
killing rot spores (they're everywhere).